Police seek public's help in homicide probe

Police seek public's help in homicide probe

City police are turning to the public as they try to solve the November killing of Charles Dembrosky in Bellevue, backing their plea with a $5,000 reward.
Police announced the reward Tuesday, nearly six weeks after someone gunned down the 49-year-old Dembrosky off Campbell Avenue in Schenectady.
No arrests have been made.

The reward is for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Dembrosky’s death.
Police responded early on the morning of Nov. 19 to a report of a body outside 2436 Campbell Ave.
Officers found Dembrosky dead with a gunshot wound to his head.

City Police Chief Eric Clifford on Tuesday said investigators hope the reward will get the public thinking about the case and help get it solved.
“We have offered rewards before,” Clifford said. “We offered one for this case in order to generate new leads.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Schenectady police at 788-6566.
Dembrosky lived on the first floor of the two-story building in Schenectady’s Bellevue neighborhood.

He was self-employed and had one son. He earned his associate degree from Hudson Valley Community College, according to his obituary.

He enjoyed outdoor activities, detailing cars “and taking selfies with other people’s cameras much to their surprise when they developed their pictures,” his obituary read.
Clifford said rewards have been mostly used for arson cases, but he expects the department to offer them more often for all major cases where police need community assistance.
The rewards will be made as resources allow, he said. The funds come from money seized through drug cases, he said.

One of the highest-profile rewards offered in recent years remains to be claimed: $40,000 offered by multiple agencies and groups for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever set the May 2, 2013, fire at 438 Hulett St. in Schenectady. The fire killed three children, their father and maimed a fourth child, Safyre Terry.